goal setter, stationery addict, planner girl, volunteer

I’m super thrilled to be able to take part in the Rhodia paper project again. If you missed it, I had the opportunity to sample the Week 19’s papers which you can read about if you click here. Go on, I’ll wait. Back? Well this time, we have different samples entirely. For Week 21, the samples are two A4 sheets of paper from the No. 19 Rhodia Pad – one in white and the other in yellow. I actually don’t use A4 pads very much anymore and the largest I seem to go is A5, for the most part so it’s great to be able to sample these bigger sheets and get back into it. Both sheets are lined, 80gsm sheets of paper. And quite honestly? I am quickly falling in love with the quality Rhodia bring every time.

The first thing that I noticed about these sheets is that they have a wide margin. It’s a lot wider than the average margin width but if you need to use that space to write more information then that would be great for you (you can actually fit words into that space – rather than just numbers, which is a problem with most margins!). The full pad itself is actually larger than A4, which allows you to be able to tear out a sheet that is exactly A4 size. Each sheet is also perforated, which also allows for easy tearing from the pad. However, when I first got these samples I did not even notice they had been torn off as the perforation is really small and well done. Unless you look closely at the top edge, it just looks like a clean cut and from a distance, you would think it was just loose sheets of paper. The second thing I noticed was that the paper is not hole punched. If that’s what you’re after then it might not be ideal for you. For example, if I was in school, I would use a ring binder to store my notes so I definitely would not recommend the paper for that purpose, as I would find it a hassle to have to hole punch every sheet. But it is great if you’re just looking for a paper pad that you can make notes on or if you don’t actually want the holes in it. (Note: If you do use a ringbinder and you want to use this paper then it would easily slot into a plastic pocket so you could always opt for that method – which protects the paper too).

The previous samples, from Week 19, held up really well no matter which pen I used so I had no doubt that this would do equally as well. Rhodia Paper, in general, has quickly started to gain my trust. I tested out various pens that range from fountain pens to gel pens. After that I opted to also throw in a Sharpie marker and a brush marker, simply out of curiosity. There are not many types of writing paper that could handle such pens so I thought I would give it a go and see how this does. And I’ll be honest, Rhodia has pleasantly surprised me once again. The Pental brush marker that I used – which I definitely expected some bleeding or feathering from was taken by the paper flawlessly. There was no bleeding, feathering and there wasn’t even a single bit of show through with this thick brush marker! The paper took all of the pens well. There was no feathering at all and the only pen to show through was the Sharpie marker pen, which is no surprise at all. I honestly expected the Pental brush marker to show through like the Sharpie does but that did not happen!

Have a look at the pen test above and let me know what you think. Please excuse the awful handwriting and brush lettering – I definitely did not put enough effort into that attempt, but it was just for a quick test. To see a bigger version of the photo, please click it and that will open up for you.

It is quite hard to see in the photos – or even capture on the camera – but the lines themselves are actually a violet colour. It looks a bit more greyish in the images, however in real life the colour is beautiful. I thought the violet grid paper from Week 19 was a bit too much and drowned out some of the thinner pens but that definitely is not the case for these samples. I had no problem with pens being too thin and think they all look great on this paper. The violet coloured lines are really lovely too – they are different and elegant.

The No 19 Paper Pads are available with either the classic Rhodia Orange or the Black cover (for the white lined paper pad only) options. Each pad contains 80 sheets of paper. I personally prefer the white paper as I enjoy using coloured pens and I don’t want them to fight with the yellow background but whichever colour you choose, know you will be getting good quality paper.

Disclaimer: I was sent these samples as part of The Paper Project. Rhodia Drive’s The Paper Project is a free project, which gives everyone the opportunity to sample some paper products. Week 21 allowed the first 30 sign ups to receive 1 A4 sheet of both the Yellow & White No. 19 Rhodia Paper Pad. This has nothing to do with my blog and it’s open to everyone.